"When used appropriately, video can be a powerful teaching medium" (Hartsell and
Yuen 2006; Shephard 2003). Reviewing the previously reported uses of video reveals
how it is especially effective:
- To grab a student's attention and motivate them to learn (Oishi 2007;
Hoover 2006; Hazen, Kelly and Sramek 2002; Benney 2001; Roskos-Ewoldsen
and Roskos-Ewoldsen 2001). For example, showing a television news clip at
the start of a lesson to simulate discussion and demonstrate the relevance of the
topic to the students' own lives. Thus, the primary aim is not to use video to
teach the material itself. Or as Oishi (2007, p. 32) puts it, "These videos do not
provide content, but they can stimulate the interest that makes the curriculum
relevant or "jumpstart" lessons".

President Obama Talks to Students

To encourage student engagement, the U.S. Department of Education is launching the "I Am What I Learn" video contest. On September 8, they will invite students to respond to the president's challenge by creating videos, up to two minutes in length, describing the steps they will take to improve their education and the role education will play in fulfilling their dreams.

A new language of visual literacy and expression has taken hold. Now it's time to add it to the classroom.

Educators must acknowledge that there are now two parallel tracks for learning, both equally critical to understand. Running alongside the traditional 3 R's -- readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic -- are the three arts: dance, music, and the visual arts. To ignore this new language of media and sensory literacy is to shortchange in a crucial way the education of our children.

Digital information comes in multiple forms, and students must learn to tell stories not just with words and numbers but also through images, graphics, color, sound, music, and dance. There is a grammar and literacy to each of these forms of communication.

Bombarded with a wide variety of images regularly, students need sharp visual-interpretation skills to interact with the media analytically. Each form of communication has its own rules and grammar and should be taught in ways that lead students to be more specific and concise in communicating.

Teachers' Domain is an extensive library of free digital media resources produced by public television and designed for classroom use and professional development. It is a Pathways project of the National Science Digital Library, with major funding coming from the US Department of Education.

"Making media and sharing it with listeners, readers, and viewers is essential to
the development of critical thinking and communication skills. Feedback deepens
the power of communication." [Excerpted from "The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education"]

"...interactive, digital, and networked forms of media are supporting new forms of engagement with knowledge and culture with unique learning dynamics. My fieldwork is indicating that a key trigger for these learning dynamics is the peer-to-peer traffic in media and knowledge that accompanies young people's engagement with culture and knowledge that they are passionate about. As they become more pervasive in our everyday lives, networked and digital media become a vehicle and an infrastructure for this peer based learning and sharing."

"...learning with and from each other is a necessary and important aspect of all courses. The role it plays varies widely and the forms it takes are very diverse, but without it students gain an impoverished education."

"Students learn a great deal by explaining their ideas to others and by participating in activities in which they can learn from their peers"